Brandie & John

Brandie and John, married for 12 years, have always known they wanted to be parents. Two and a half years after marrying, they bought their home and decided to start building their family. Their plan was to have two biological children, then foster/adopt two more a few years later. Following some heart and immunity-related illnesses, Brandie was given clearance by her doctors to stop birth control. After a few short months of trying to conceive, they were pregnant! Sadly, eight weeks later, they suffered a miscarriage. Brandie and John’s doctor assured them miscarriages are common and were told not to worry.

With each passing year, Brandie asked her doctor why they weren’t getting pregnant. For years, her doctor kept reassuring her that they just needed to relax and there was no reason for concern. Aggravated and frustrated, they decided to rethink their original family plan. Brandie and John were ready to be parents, so they decided to open their hearts and home to children in need.

They were blessed when three amazing kids walked through their door in June 2013. For the next two years, they would be known as “Mommy Brandie and Daddy John.” When the kids couldn’t be reunited with family, Brandie and John didn’t think twice about adopting all of them. However, JFS believed the children should be moved to a location unknown to their birth family and they were removed from their home. After the children were moved, Brandie and John were in contact with them for 10 months, however, when contact eventually ended, Brandie and John were devastated.

Not ready to face the possibility of having to say goodbye again so soon, Brandie and John decided to take a break from fostering and go back to the doctor. After months of still not conceiving, they were finally referred to a reproductive endocrinologist. With an official diagnosis of unexplained infertility and after three failed IUI attempts, their RE advised their best chance at starting a family would be through IVF.

“We are sincerely grateful to Parental Hope for granting us the opportunity to fulfill our dream of building a family,” comments the couple. “There are no words to express the appreciation we have for Parental Hope. How does someone thank another for such a selfless, priceless, opportunity?”

***Update: Brandie and John welcomed their daughter, Jonnie Peach, on October 5, 2018.